Dark Sci-Fi Game Adaptation On Netflix Will Make You Forget About The Borderlands Movie

Arcane is based on a multiplayer online battle game known as League of Legends (LoL) or League for short. It is set before the characters go on to become champions of their game, covering backstories for a few of the more famous characters like Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) and Jinx (Ella Purnell). The story is set in a utopian fantasy city known as Piltover, and how the people face dire fates and power that turn them into the champions players know and love.

As a casual player of League of Legends, I knew that the characters in the game had detailed backgrounds. However, I’d never really bothered to stop and learn about them. As much as I love reading, trying to sort through and read the history of all of my favorite characters just sounded like too much.

When I learned that there was a TV show coming out, I was very eager to watch it. It offered an easy and fun way to learn more about the game and from what I’d seen of the trailer, the animation and story in Arcane were more than good enough to keep me interested.

Arcane was amazing, and from what little I know about the character’s backgrounds, the story seems pretty accurate. Reading through discussion boards, it does seem that the story did change a little, especially the small details. However, Riot Games, the team behind League, has said that Arcane is canon and all information presented before that is no longer accurate.

My favorite part however was that you didn’t have to be a player or fan of the game to enjoy the story. On its own, Arcane has an interesting plot with plenty of relatable characters and action to keep you watching.

My only complaint about the show is that I’m eager to learn more. There are over 150 different champions in League of Legends, and only about 11 of them were present in Arcane. While these characters have more than enough story to make entire seasons of them, I do hope the show, or sequels of it come out over time to cover more of the characters.

In addition to Vi and Jinx, the other main champions you see in Arcane are Ekko (Reed Shannon), Singed (Brett Tucker), Caitlyn (Katie Leung), Jayce (Kevin Alejandro), Heimerdinger (Mick Wingert), and Viktor (Harry Lloyd). There are hints and nods to other champions as well, but they aren’t the main part of the story.

I’m apparently not the only one to love this show. On Rotten Tomatoes, Arcane has a 100 percent average critic score, and a 96 percent average audience score. It’s not the only video game adaptation to do well recently, either, as Fallout has a high critic and audience score on Rotten Tomatoes as well.

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Unfortunately, it seems this newest media based on a game has failed to figure out the algorithm for a good adaptation, though. If you’re ready to give up on Borderlands and watch a game adaptation TV show that’s interesting, Arcane is available to stream on Netflix.